LONDON, 25 July 2005 — All decent human beings in Britain were outraged last Friday when they saw the “Breaking News” of a man being shot dead on the tube at Stockwell Station in South London. In a week when British servicemen had already been convicted for killing innocent Iraqis in their custody, who could believe their eyes when they saw the same crimes taking place in their own city and right before their eyes? What has become of London, and moreover, Britain? Most people were shocked at the news that police were now operating on a shoot-to-kill basis. Is this really what Britain has come to?
An “Asian-looking” man who did not carry a rucksack or any weapon tripped over and fell, before being shot five times and being killed.
Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was without a weapon or a suspicious-looking backpack. What made him look like a suicide bomber? The only description we had of Menezes from eyewitnesses and news sources is that he was “Asian-looking”. Do they means to say that all Asian-looking people are now suspects? Does that in turn mean that all suspects may be shot at or even killed? That day I exchanged words regarding this matter with a lot of people. I was horrified to note that some of them thought the police were right to shoot a suspected suicide bomber, even if it was five times through the mouth and the head.
I went through it in my mind over and over again: A man jumped over the ticket barriers and ran toward the platform. He was chased by police, who were not in uniform. So for all we know, these men may not have even been police. Given that London is a city with many tourists, the man may not have even understood what the police were saying to him. So what made the police so sure he was a suicide bomber? Is it the fact that he was wearing a jacket on a day that was said to get warmer? Was it his jumping over the ticket barriers? Whatever the cause for suspicion, are police really ready to jump on, and shoot at, a man who they believe may have explosives strapped to his body?
For most news reporters, the killing of this innocent man was in the interest of public safety. Forget that we are trying to make Britain a safer place, that we are trying to increase justice and peace in our societies, and forget all about saving innocent lives; we are now killing people simply because they look “Asian” or suspicious. And when the truth is revealed, what is the response we get from the authorities? Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone decided that blame should be attributed to the perpetrators of the July 7 attacks. In a statement he said, “This tragedy has added another victim to the toll of deaths for which the terrorists bear responsibility”. It defies logic how one could think the police were acting heroic when they shot a man to his death for resisting to cooperate. Most people resist arrest. Are not policemen trained to deal with a man — flat on his face — resisting arrest?
This evening, as the truth broke out, my outrage turned into disappointment — disappointment that the trust and confidence I had in the British system of law and order has been eroded by the suspicions of one police officer. And disappointed that the authorities have not dealt with it in the best and most logical way. All we have heard from the Metropolitan Police is that the incident was tragic and regretted. Our mayor has completely misplaced blame and the Prime Minister’s Office has not said a word.
If Britain is going to turn into a police state over the terrorist attacks on London, we may as well give up now.
All this talk of not changing the way we live, and not letting the terrorists put one over us, sounds hollow.
The truth of the matter is that the politicians don’t want the attacks to change their way of doing things.
